Biology

About the School: A Message From the Chair

These are exciting times for biologists. We have come through three incredibly productive decades of highly specialized research, during which time amazing progress has been made in understanding the workings of individual cells, organisms, and populations. For example, on the molecular level, we now understand many of the intricacies of how information is encoded and expressed by genes throughout plant and animal development. On the cellular level, we have begun to document the details of mechanisms that underlie various neurological and physiological processes associated with a variety of human diseases. On the level of populations, many of the mysteries about how species interact and adapt to their environments are beginning to unravel.

The future of biology promises to be no less exciting and productive than the past, but most experts agree that future biological research will be characterized more by integration than specialization. For example, future ecologists will routinely integrate knowledge of cellular and molecular processes to better understand how organisms sense their environments and how the cellular consequences of these sensations induce behavioral and physiological responses that are manifest on the organismic and community levels. Not only will those distinctions by which we currently define traditional areas of biological research become blurred in the future, biologists will regularly integrate knowledge and methodologies taken from fields currently considered to be well outside the realm of biology. The significant role of mathematics and computer science in biological research, for example, will continue to grow exponentially in the future. Increasingly, cells, organisms, and populations will be viewed and studied as composites of dynamically interacting units.

While past biological research has taught us much about how these individual biological units are structured and function, future biology will be focused on understanding how these units interact. The mathematical and computer sciences will be essential tools in this so-called “systems approach” to the study of biology. Likewise, the integration and incorporation of engineering into biological research will be a hallmark of future biology. Many algorithms originally developed by systems engineers to help understand the dynamics of complex electrical networks are already being employed to unravel the complexities of biochemical pathways in cells and similar applications will be made to even more complex biological systems in the future.

I believe that the School of Biology at Georgia Tech is an ideal place to acquire the knowledge and develop the skills that will prepare you for a future in biology. Long-standing strengths in engineering and the mathematical and computer sciences at Georgia Tech provide an ideal environment in which to train and participate in integrative approaches to biological research. The School of Biology is comprised of a broad diversity of research biologists, many of whom have pioneered integrative approaches to the study of biological systems, ranging from ecological communities to individual cells and viruses. The School of Biology was the first to establish a formal degree program in bioinformatics, and all of our students are encouraged to develop integrated programs of study that are customized to fit their individual interests and needs.

I am excited about the future of biology at Georgia Tech and I invite you to explore the unique opportunities that await you here.

Dr. John McDonald
Chair, School of Biology